Two found guilty of sexual battery

Attack occurred last year at Hollywood beach

After almost six hours of deliberations over two days, a Broward County jury convicted two men Wednesday of raping a 40-year-old woman on Hollywood's beach a year ago.

Hever Ramos and Cesar Amador, both 22, were charged with two counts of sexual battery and one count of attempted sexual battery. Their co-defendant, Armando Moncadaramos, 21, will likely go to trial accused of assaulting the woman steps from her Hollywood apartment on Sept. 20 last year.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel is not identifying the woman because of the nature of the crime.

During the deliberations Wednesday, the two male and four female jurors asked to be read the woman's testimony before reaching a guilty verdict two hours later.

In her testimony last week, the woman fought characterizations that she was too drunk to remember what happened that night. She told jurors she went to the beach to clear her head after a night of drinking and fell asleep near a lifeguard stand.

At 3:30 a.m., she said she awoke in the sand with one man holding her down by the shoulders while a second man spread her legs and pushed himself against her. Moncadaramos, the third man, watched before pulling down his pants and forcing himself on her, she said.

The woman was not in court Wednesday to hear the verdict, but in an interview after the verdict she said justice was served.

"My initial reaction was total relief and I guess validation," she said. "To me, it was open and shut. It took a little longer, but in the end I realize that's the best possible scenario, because they examined everything."

She said she thought Ramos' blood on her robe, the fact that she immediately called 911 and that her description so closely matched what the convicted men looked like and wore had convinced the jury.

Prosecutor Paul Valcore characterized the trial as complex.

"The jury made a wise decision after considerable reflection," Valcore said. "I think they did their job. It was a complicated trial."

Ramos and Amador's defense attorneys - James Weick Jr. and Bernie Bober - urged jurors last week to consider that the woman was too drunk to remember what had happened. They also told jurors to remember that the semen obtained by a vaginal swab did not match any of the three defendants or the woman's boyfriend.

The woman conceded in her testimony that the semen must have come from one or two men she had sex with in the Keys the previous weekend at a clothing-optional, swingers pool party.

Ramos and Amador face a maximum of 65 years in prison when they return to Broward Circuit Judge Eileen O'Connor's courtroom for sentencing on Jan. 18.

Staff Writer Tonya Alanez contributed to this report.

Elizabeth Baier can be reached at ebaier@sun- sentinel.com or 954-356-4637.